Here. I've been involved in RL today, so I'm not clear whether these rules can still be changed by the Saturday vote, or not.

Bangor Daily News:

“We’re not short-timers; we are here for the long haul,” [No on 1 campaign manager Jesse] Connolly told the crowd, some of whom wiped away tears as he spoke. “Whether it’s just all night and into the morning, or next week or next month or next year, we will be here. We’ll be fighting, we’ll be working. We will regroup.”

I think that's exactly right.

The Yes on 1 campaign, led by the group Stand for Marriage Maine, built its lead by winning votes in rural Maine as well as in some larger towns such as the Roman Catholic and Franco-American stronghold of Lewiston*.

Call #1 to Pelosi's Office [(202) 225-4965]:

LAMBERT: Hi, I'd like to know the status of the Kucinich and Weiner amendments to HR3962.

PELOSI STAFFER: [CLICK... Voice mail hell].

Call #2 to Pelosi's Office [(202) 225-4965]:

LAMBERT: Hi, I'd like to know the status of two amendents.

PELOSI STAFFER: Let me transfer you [CLICK... Voice mail hell].

Call #3 to Pelosi's Office [(202) 225-4965]:

LAMBERT: Hi, I'd like an answer to a question, not voice mail.

PELOSI STAFFER: I'm sorry, we're very busy [CLICK... Voice mail hell].

Our Dem "leaders" are so busy they can't even prepare a canned response to a question on Obama's signature domestic initiative?

ralphbon, blogging at FireDogLake

According to Tim Carpenter of Progressive Democrats of America, one avenue of appeal remains regarding these efforts:

Democratic House leaders can insert what is called a “Manager’s Amendment” into legislation, even when it is closed to any other amendments. The managers are the majority and minority members who “manage” debate for the bill on each side.

Today, tomorrow, and beyond, we need to call these “managers” and insist that the Kucinich Amendment is restored into the healthcare bill….

The “gang” that holds our future in their hands includes:

* Speaker Nancy Pelosi: Washington, DC, office (202) 225-4965; San Francisco office (415) 556-4862

Via Wired:

America’s spy agencies want to read your blog posts, keep track of your Twitter updates — even check out your book reviews on Amazon.

In-Q-Tel, the investment arm of the CIA and the wider intelligence community, is putting cash into Visible Technologies, a software firm that specializes in monitoring social media. It’s part of a larger movement within the spy services to get better at using ”open source intelligence” — information that’s publicly available, but often hidden in the flood of TV shows, newspaper articles, blog posts, online videos and radio reports generated every day.

Shorter Bad Tux; go read. It's all true:

Google says: "All your data are belong to us":

The uber-geeks who run Google don't like to think about the messy world of law and politics. But it can't be avoided. The latest example: A Bear Stearns manager done in by a GMail account he thought was closed.

Matthew Tannin may have shut down his account, but Google keeps backups, and the company provided government prosecutors with "a CD-ROM disk... of Mr. Tannin's emails from November 20, 2006 through August 12, 2007," according to the New York Times. The prosecutors are trying to prove fraud in the collapse of two hedge funds, managed in part by Tannin, and have been helped along by his personal emails, one of which reads "a wave of fear set over me that the fund couldn't be run the way that I was ‘hoping'... And that it was going to subject investors to ‘blow up risk'." ...

[E]very police department and district attorney's office in the country knows they can extract valuable data from the company. Google has little motive to fight much against these authorities.

Yves comments:

LOLfed, as usual, puts it all in perspective:

From Bloomberg, a shocking – shocking – tale of cocaine usage among bankers. I had no idea! The story here is not so much the blow as it is the sudden cessation thereof, as the finance-minded do the math and realize how much their eightball budget has been cut back as of late.

It’s no wonder 90% of all US money has Bolivian marching powder on it, with this being so popular in banking. ...

[Do read the comments. --lambert]